Around Here editor/writer

A wealthy Greensboro businessman has offered a $10,000 reward for the successful prosecution of whoever broke into his home two months ago and stole thousands in jewelry.

A burglar or burglars entered the home of Jamie Reynolds, the co-developer of Reynolds Plantation, a luxury golfing resort started more than 20 years ago on Lake Oconee in Greene County. The Reynolds family sold the development to MetLife Inc. last year.

“We don’t have any leads, so we’re more or less reaching out to the public hoping to develop something,” Greene County sheriff’s Capt. Ron Thurmond said Wednesday.

The Greensboro Herald-Journal in its May 9 issue carried a half-page advertisement offering the $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever burglarized Reynold’s home on March 19 in Reynolds Plantation, a gated community that Thurmond said experiences little crime.

Taken in the burglary, besides an undisclosed amount of expensive jewelry, were some guns, according to Thurmond.

Reynolds is still checking his home to see if anything else is stolen, said Thurmond, who explained investigators are not sure how many people were involved in the crime.

“It’s hard to say,” he explained. “You’re talking about jewelry. One person could do that.”

The burglar apparently entered the home through an unlocked door.

“You know how gated communities are,” Thurmond said. “People live there with a sense of security they shouldn’t have. Even though you live behind the gates, don’t have a false sense of security. Locks and alarms are there for a reason. Use them.”

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